Originally Posted by CountChocula
I had to jump through a lot of hoops in order to get G1 to launch properly.

You can always grab it on Gog.com for $10 USD. Unless you're big government, I know that money doesn't grow on trees and if you just plunked down cash to buy it on Steam spending another $10 for a game you already own is not a pleasant thought. But if you do, the game is point-click-and-run on Windows 7 which I enjoy immensely.

Originally Posted by CountChocula
When I was finally able to play the game without crashing at 1920x1080 resolution…

I wouldn't even play it at that resolution as to me there doesn't seem to be any real benefit and it makes reading NPC and Quest Journal text very difficult. While my monitor and videocard can support resolutions up to 1920x1080, I am playing G1 at 1024x768. It looks and plays just fine for a 2001 game at that resolution and I've had no crashes.

Originally Posted by CountChocula
…I had so much difficulty with the controls and performing simple tasks such as transferring loot from chests to my inventory, etc., that I had to throw in the towel on this game after a few hours.

The controls are the Achiles' heel of Gothic 1. There is no way to sugar coat things… the control scheme is, at first, quite terrible.

But if you push through, the controls after a while actually aren't so bad. StrategyWiki offers some great info for G1 as well as provides a simple layout of the controls for the keyboard.

The oddest control scheme for G1 is the use of Left-Ctrl in conjunction with your arrow keys. Use Left-Ctrl + Up_Arrow_Key to pick something up. Use Left-Ctrl + Right_Arrow_Key to add a vendor item to the vendor's trade bucket and so on.

Also, you use Left-Alt + Up_Arrow_Key to jump. With the Gog.com version you can now jump clicking your right mouse button.

I'd urge you to try because chances are you will really like G1 if you can just get past the controls.

At this point in my playthrough, the only control scheme bothering me is how the game handles strafing movements. In a nutshell, it's horrible and the single biggest annoyance I'm having with the game.

— If I'm right but there is no wife around to acknowledge it, am I still right?